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Currently there is a large discussion about how DakkaDakka is worse than it used to be. I think that a thread is needed for people to post ways to fix what they see is wrong. There are other threads where you can discuss what you think is wrong. This thread is to tell the moderators what you think should be done.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I will start with my own idea for what could be done to make DakkaDakka better. I am speaking as a more casual user of the site. I read it a lot, post some, and mostly come here for information. I would like ways to find information without having to write a post asking for that information if it is already here. The search function is problematic and it can be very hard to find what you are looking for.


The Big Idea:
At the moment Mods and Admins can only use punitive measure to discourage "bad" posts. However, this does not encourage "good" posts to be written. The Mods need a way to reward good posts and discussions while punishing "bad" posts and discussion.


The Plan:
I think that every thread category should have a "mod's favorite" sticky. The would be two versions, one would be a "current favorite" This would be a place where a mod could link to any threads that they found interesting at the moment. It would be a way to reward someone who wrote something beyond an average post. It could even be something that a mob just thought was funny or cool. Each mod could use this space however they wanted. The second version would be an "all time favorites". After a thread spends some time on the "current favorites" board, the mods decide it deserves to be archived for further use, but does not really need more posts. A thread with an extensive review of an army book or a helpful tutorial would be the most likely candidates. Tactics/army list thread could be sorted by faction.

Then there are a few stickies that I think each category could use in addition to the ones above.

Army Lists:
Most people who go to a tournament and write battle reports also post an army list. What I would like is a sticky in the army list forum that links to these army lists sorted by faction. It would be nice to have a place where you can quickly look up what lists people took to tournaments and how they performed. It is a quick reference guide to the top lists for each faction.

YMDC:
Here the "all time favorites" could be replaced by a "questions answered" sticky. After a question is answered it is placed in the sticky. This sticky would be sorted by faction with a section for general rules questions. This would cut down on the number of times the same question would be asked again and again as there would be a single place to go to for answers.

Battle Reports:
I would like to see a sticky that indexed all of the tournament battle reports. After a large tournament, there are usually several battle reports from several posters. This list would allow people to look up all of the battle reports from a given tournament, or look up battle reports from last years tournament that they are attending this year.


All of these stickies could be updated at the leisure of each Mod. They would not have to be updated constantly for them to have some effect on the posting here at DakkaDakka. If the posters start to know that "good" posts get some time in the limelight. I think that it will increase the quality of content on the site. Also, some archives would be helpful to keep repeated topics from coming back.

Isn't part of an online forum... well... posting? Asking questions and discussing ideas?

By removing the necessity of asking questions it will become more of a Library, less a Forum.

Fix the search function, encourage it's use. Boom.

Monster Rain wrote:Isn't part of an online forum... well... posting? Asking questions and discussing ideas?

By removing the necessity of asking questions it will become more of a Library, less a Forum.

Fix the search function, encourage it's use. Boom.

Have to agree.

+1

That may be true, but I've seen plenty of mods (and non-mods) jump down the throats of people asking questions that were already answered previously, resulting in a locked thread. I for one am all for all these suggestions - they seem like they would be some great additions to make Dakka more convenient.

there actually is already a suggestion box of sorts for dakka already... it's the nuts and bolts forum. i've posted in there questions and/or suggestions and lego usually responds the same day.

In all honesty I have never scrolled down the site far enough to see the nuts and bolts category...

Maybe this thread should be moved, but I think it would be ok to have a suggestion box next to the two huge threads of complaints.

Some of the complaints have been that the tournament scene here at DakkaDakka has become lost in a sea of non-tournament players offering less helpful advice. Again the idea was not to keep people from posting or discussing, but rather to have the Mods have a way to "reward" better posts and threads by directing attention to them. Also, there are some really great threads and posts that are lost a week after they are written. Right now, Hulksmash is trying to make a complete competitive tyranid codex review. It would be sad if that thread was lost in a week because it slips off the first page, and then down into oblivion. Also, searching will not always put forth the "best" threads. If you search "tyranid tactics" you are as likely to get a thread with less quality advice from less experienced players, and that is after the search function is fixed.

As to DakkaDakka becoming a library, there is an entire section of the site called articles. There are a few very nice tactics articles, but they are by no means complete. I think that DakkaDakka can be a forum as well as a library.

Also, I have no idea how hard it would be to "fix" the search function, but I imagine that it would not be easy, otherwise it would have been done already.